Contemplating God’s Love In The Way Of The Cross – Part III

This third part presents the final stages of the road to Calvary. We meet Jesus at the top of the hill.

Station 9: Jesus Falls the Third Time

Looking at the Lord’s beaten and torn body makes us shudder in horror and sorrow. As Isaiah put it, it was our sicknesses that He bore, and our pains that He carried. Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted; even struck down by God; and yes, very badly humiliated (cf. Isaiah 53:4). This is how we miss the clear and visible signs of love and the value of true sacrifice. But looking with the eyes of faith reveals the most beautiful sign of love in these scars and wounds.

God is Steadfast Love

Although it grieves our hearts to see the Lord so weak and helpless, it is yet comforting to our souls to know that from this fall, He understands our sufferings. It is God telling us that there will be times in life that we will fall again and again, even despite the help of friends and loved ones like Simon and Veronica. There are times when the sufferings of a lifetime are suddenly compressed into the present moment and the cross is more than can be borne. The Lord Jesus presents someone we can look to for example and courage. He shows us the steadfast love of God. In His steadfast love, He leads the people He has redeemed. In His strength, He guides us to His Holy dwelling (cf. Exodus 15:13). When we have trust in His steadfast love, our hearts will rejoice in His salvation (cf. Psalm 13:5).

God is Renewing Love

When I am discouraged after many falls, the Lord God tells my innermost being to keep going because He knows how hard it is to rise. Through the humiliation of the third fall, the Lord Jesus demonstrates God’s renewing love, which gives us courage and perseverance to take up our crosses and follow Him closely. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation because the old passed away and the new has come (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ, we do not lose heart. Even though our outer self wastes away, our inner self is renewed day by day (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:16). With every fall we must put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created it (cf. Colossians 3:10).

Station 10: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

Clothing gives a person his place in society and makes him recognizable as someone. We see this in the stripping of Joseph (cf. Genesis 37:23). At Calvary, the public stripping of the Lord Jesus means that He is no longer anything. He is a simple outcast, rightfully despised by all alike. Another stripping is recorded in the expulsion from Paradise when God’s splendor falls away from man, who stands naked and exposed, unclad and ashamed. In this fall, the Lord Jesus strips Himself of His glory to take on the condition of fallen man. This serves to remind us that we have all lost the first garment that God gave us in creation – His Splendor.

God is Stripping Love

However, the third fall of Jesus teaches us of God’s love which is capable of stripping us of all unnecessities. About our former way of life, we are to rid ourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit (cf. Ephesians 4:22). Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, we must rid ourselves of every obstacle and sin which so easily entangles us. Like Him, we fall even a third time and yet rise again to run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking only at the Lord Jesus. He is the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross and despised the shame. He now sits down at the right hand of the throne of God. We must consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself so that we do not grow weary and lose heart (cf. Hebrews 12:1-3).

God is Emptying Love

Jesus gives us the example of emptying Himself by taking the form of a bondservant and being found in appearance as a man. He thus humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death on a cross (cf. Philippians 2:7-8). We have been called to live as people of the light, who must throw off works of darkness like drunkenness, sexual immorality, and jealousy. We are to take on the armor of light against the darkness and take on Christ Himself instead of serving our desires (cf. Romans 13:12).

Station 11: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Jesus is stretched out on the Cross which He carried this far. The Cross is positioned upright, and the Lord literally hangs between the sky and the ground, between heaven and earth. It seems like Earth has rejected Him and yet Heaven does not open its doors to Him. He is so alone.

God is Accepting Love

Sometimes we hurt each other. Sometimes we discriminate against others. Even without thinking, we judge others by their color, intelligence, income level, name, or work. We forget that we are all the image and likeness of God. The Lord Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us (cf. John 15:12). Seeing the Lord Jesus hanging on the Cross helps me to look again at the people around me. I can now see the hurt and pain that I have caused in others. I am moved to make amends for the harm I have done. I recognize that God accepts me despite my weaknesses. I, too, must see others as my brothers and sisters, and accept them in love despite their weaknesses (cf. Ephesians 4:32). Therefore, we accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us, for the glory of God (cf. Romans 15:7).

God is Welcoming Love

Looking at Jesus, we can hear Him quietly beckoning us, “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  His outstretched hands on the Cross indicate just how much this welcoming love extends. As St. Peter puts it, love covers a multitude of sins (cf. 1 Peter 4:8). Human relationships can be so fickle – passionate love quickly turns sour, great friendships are torn apart by jealousy, families break up over differences of opinion or lifestyles, and those we love seemingly reject us. The Lord Jesus hanging on the Cross reminds us that the one who comes to Him will certainly not be cast out (cf. John 6:37). He demonstrates God’s welcoming love that unconditionally invites us to stay with Him for always.

Station 12: Jesus Dies on the Cross

St. Matthew reports that Jesus hang on the Cross for three good hours before He died and there was darkness engulfing the land (cf. Matthew 27:45).

God is Forgiving Love

As Jesus hung on the cross, he forgave those who crucified Him and prayed for His mother and friends. Jesus wanted all of us to be able to live forever with God, so He gave all He had for us (John 3:16). We must take a few moments to consider this love. We must thank Him for willingly going to His death for us. only He can help us to express our love.

God is Drawing Love

We all stand condemned before God and are separated from Him who is immaculate holiness and perfect justice. Before the death of Jesus, we were far away from God; but through the Blood of Christ, we have been brought near (cf. Ephesians 2:13). The Lord Jesus dies on the Cross to deal with our sins and bring us near to God. He suffered for sins once for all time; the just dies for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God. He is put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit (cf. 1 Peter 3:18).

The Lord Jesus said that when He is lifted up from the earth, He will draw everyone to Himself (cf. John 12:32). In this Station, He is truly lifted up. He sank to the depths only to rise to the heights. By dying on the Cross, He radically fulfills the commandment of love and completes the offering of Himself. In this way, He reveals the true God, who is Love.

Station 13: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

At the end of His sufferings, it is clear that Jesus was never alone. For all the dismay which filled the hearts of men, and for all the power of hatred and cowardice that were put to display, there are a few faithful ones who remain with Him. Joseph of Arimathea gathers up the courage to go and ask Pilate for His body (cf. Mark 15:46). Together with Nicodemus they bring Jesus down from the Cross and lay His dead body in the hands of His Mother.

God is Birthing Love

The Church could not begin before the Cross. The events leading up to the Death of Jesus point to the mere beginning of the birth pangs for the Church (cf. Matthew 24:8). In these events, the whole of creation was groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth together until now (cf. Romans 8:22). From His heart that is pierced by the lance of the Roman soldier flows blood and water (cf. John 19:34). This mysterious image of the stream of the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist signifies how the Church is constantly reborn from the opened heart of the Lord.

The Blood is for redemption that deals with sins (cf. Hebrews 9:22) to purchase the Church (cf. Acts 20:28). The Water is for imparting life that deals with death (cf. John 12:24 & 3:14-15) to produce the Church (cf. Ephesians 5: 29-30). We think of Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night (cf. John 3:2). To him, the Lord Jesus proclaimed the mystery of rebirth by water and the Spirit (cf. John 3:5). He is a believer who remained hidden within the Sanhedrin. The light of hope is mysteriously present in this hour of immense grief, with all the darkness and despair. The hidden God continues to be the God of Life. On the night of death, the Lord Jesus continues to be our Lord and Saviour. Now the Church of Jesus Christ (His new Family) begins to take shape.

Station 14: Jesus is buried in the Tomb.

The Lord Jesus is buried in His own empty tomb, in a garden (cf. John 19:41). The cemetery where Jesus is buried becomes a Garden. A garden that parallels the garden from which Adam was cast out when he abandoned the fullness of Life. The garden tomb symbolizes that the dominion of death is about to end and the promise of new life is soon to be fulfilled. The tomb will bear witness to the Light of life.

God is Promising Love

We remember that the Lord Jesus does not want us to be troubled. He promised that there are many rooms in the Father’s House, and He goes ahead of us to prepare a place for us. He promised to come back and take us to be with Him so that we also may be where He is (cf. John 14:1-3). The burial of Jesus reminds us that God has plans to prosper us and not to harm us; plans to give us hope and a future (cf. Jeremiah 29:11). We simply have to believe in God, and also believe in Christ Jesus.

God is Sanctifying Love

God’s love works in the Church in ways that we may not be aware. Christ’s love is continuously sanctifying the church. Jesus said that for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth (cf. John 17:19). The Burial reminds us that at Baptism we were buried with Christ, to be raised with Him to new Life. Jesus sanctifies us in the truth, for His word is Truth (cf. John 17:17). I must enter the tomb with Him and ask Him to create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me (cf. Psalm 51:10).

The Resurrection of Jesus

The resurrection of Jesus reveals His true identity (John 20:19-22 & Luke 24:1-12). Jesus says that the Father loves Him because He lay down His life so that He may take it back. This means that no one could take it away from Him. That He lay it down on His own. That He had the authority to lay it down, and authority to take it back. This was the commandment that He received from the Father (cf. John 10:17-18). On the third day, Jesus rises from the dead. Jesus’ rising is the ultimate demonstration of absolute power (cf. Romans 6:9). He is our living Saviour (cf. Revelation 1:18). And we get to share in His Power.

God is Eternal Love

Since Jesus is alive, the greatest assurance we have is that He will keep every promise that He made. He will return one day, to raise all believers who died in Him. He will grant them the same kind of incorruptible body that the Risen Christ had. This is the blessed hope that we look forward to having in God’s eternal love. Christ has conquered death for us, and we have every reason to rejoice in the resurrection of Christ (cf. 1 Corinthians 15: 54-57).

God is Everlasting Love

Truly, God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that we can have eternal life (cf. John 3:16). God loves us with an everlasting love and continues His faithfulness to us (cf. Jeremiah 31:3). In the resurrection we see how great a love the Father has given us, that we would be called children of God; and in fact, we are (cf. 1 John 3:1). Every day we must give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His faithfulness is everlasting (cf. Psalm 136:1).

Take-Home

The Way of the Cross is the way of love. Although Mother Church sets apart the Season of Lent for this devotion, God’s love as revealed in this devotion should draw us to pray it even out of season. Better still, we should live it daily. Every step you take in the steps of Jesus on the way of the Cross should crucify you in the flesh and raise you in spirit. This is one way we remain close to God so that we can continually receive new light over our self-life. By faith, something more can be crucified in us. By faith, the new becomes reality in our life. In reality, we also will advance in our way of Life.